


Mandatory

by PerseusHuntress



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 13:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16833823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerseusHuntress/pseuds/PerseusHuntress





	Mandatory

Shepard sat at the bar, slowly pulling at the bright concoction in front of her. She gazed absent minded out of the enormous window offering spectacular views of the Presidium, the lights of the Wards spilling out in constellations below her. This particular bar was very swanky, it had a silly name which Shepard could not recall at this particular moment, with mood lighting and shelves stocked with drinks from all the corners of the galaxy, glittering like gems in the artificial light. It was far outside her usual fare of smoky bars on the Wards, but today she needed an escape, a change of scenery and to distance herself from the Normandy, as far as possible. This was not a location her crew was likely to visit, and she revelled in the anonymity, being just another face in the crowd rather than Commander Shepard, First Human Spectre. Her mind wondered as she watched people stream in and out of the establishment, people watching to distract herself from the invasive thoughts her mind kept trying to force on her.

“Skipper what are you doing here?” Chief Williams’ voice startled the Commander out of her reverie. Ashley stood to the side of Shepard, hands on her hips, one eyebrow quirked, surprise registering on her face. Shepard blinked. She wasn’t expecting her Gunnery Chief to appear in this setting of glitz and glamour, but more unsettlingly Ashley was dressed in something clingy and shockingly pink, her hair half up, the rest cascading down her back in waves. Shepard has known Williams for a good part of 2 years, but has never seen her out of the Alliance blues, never even thought to imagine her Gunnery Chief in civis. It was jarring to see Ashely like this, not unpleasant just decidedly odd.

“Drinking?” Shepard offered lamely.

“Well I can see that Skipper” Ashley laughed. “I mean what are you doing here. This is not exactly your usual?”

“I could ask you the same thing” Shepard went on the defensive, explaining exactly why she has hidden herself in a fancy bar was not high on the list of her priorities. A thought suddenly popped into her head. “Are you meeting someone?”

“Hoping to” Ashley smiled. “Social occasions have been thin on the ground lately. But you’re not getting off that easy Skipper, why are you here?”

Shepard sighed, Ashley was honest with her, and she supposed she should return the favour. “I just needed to get away for a couple of hours, stretch my legs.” she answered half heartedly.

Ashley pulled out a bar stool and slid in next to Shepard.

“I see. Escaping someone then.” A knowing smile crossed Ashley’s features. 

This took Shepard aback, Ash couldn’t possibly know? Could she? Shepard did everything in her power to conceal this mess, fraternisation with fellow officers was not necessarily forbidden but it was certainly frowned upon. Not that she did any fraternisation, which was precisely the problem.

Shepard’s infatuation has been getting out of hand recently, demanding attention she could not afford it. It was becoming more and more apparent that this wasn’t just a phase. When they held the big meetings in the comm room she’d become acutely aware of how she stood, her words and gestures were self-scrutinised to such a degree that she would constantly readjust herself, fidgeting with her uniform. And her eyes would constantly watch him, his reactions to her words, every nod registering and distracting her from her speeches. Warmth pooling in her every time he looked at her, making her stumble her words, forget where she was and that incessant need to be near him made her stray towards his end of the room so often that she looked demented skirting the edges, suddenly realising that she was next to him for the tenth time and then quick stepping away. It was stupid, she wasn’t 15, this shit was meant to get better with age. She’s clearly been lied to. 

The Commander sighed heavily, she was mentally willing Ashley to ask more. Shepard wanted to talk about this to someone, needed to release this into the world in the hope that her head would clear just a little. Even in this bar, that she’s chose to hide in was affording her little in the way of distraction with its parade of dressed up guests and bright lights, her mind kept forcing the issue kept brining him up over and over again. 

Ashley watched the Commander from the corner of her eye, there was definitely something wrong, Shepard’s facial expressions were grim and she viciously shredded the bar napkin, entirely unaware of her own actions.

Ashley cleared her throat, unsure how to approach the subject she chose to dive straight in. “You know, he is a good guy. Maybe you should just talk to him. Hell, maybe even give it a go?”

Shepard tensed, this is exactly what she wanted but now that they’ve arrived at the moment of confession she felt self-conscious, and flustered. She did her best to hide her feelings, her professionalism toward him bordered on Arctic at times. Apparently it was all in vain she really was transparent, and that made her feel foolish.

“And what would that achieve exactly? The regs alone are bad enough, but then when you consider who he is, it gets ten times more complicated” Shepard’s heart was beating out a staccato, she was not used to this level of ‘sharing’ “besides I don’t even know if he feels the same, how could I possibly give it a go?”

Ashley snorted. “Seriously Shepard? You don’t think he feels the same? He trails after you like a lost puppy!”

Shepard was floored “He does?” her heart hammered, she never even considered the possibility, could she have over looked this somehow?

Ashley laughed out loud at Shepard’s confusion “My sister’s boyfriends are more subtle than Alenko, and they are all 16, Shepard!”

“Alenko?” Shepard blinked puzzled.

“Yes, we are talking about Kaidan right?” Ashley narrowed her eyes. 

Shepard stared at her Gunnery Chief. This was definitely unexpected.

“Not Alenko?! Who were you talking about then?!” Williams’ eyes widened in excitement and she lent toward Shepard. 

Shepard could feel the colour rising in her face, she was desperately scrambling for something to say.

“Well… do you remember that time that I told you that kissing turians will not be necessary…” Shepard trailed off.

Ashley gasped. Her eyes widened in shock and she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. 

“Ugh…” Shepard shrunk, picked up the shredded napkin and started twisting it violently in her hand in the hope of avoiding looking at Ashley, embarrassment flooded her face, she felt extraordinarily hot in the heavily air-conditioned room.

“Let me just get this straight” Ashley had regained her voice but not her composure “You are telling me, here, right now, that… that you…” she pulled a face before she could finish her sentence.

Shepard looked up at Ash and almost lost it at the expression of horror intermingled with blind confusion on her face. Fuck it, she thought and exhaled sharply.

“That I would seriously consider sleeping with a turian? Yes.” Shepard spread out her hands at the confession, laugher bubbling out of her as the weight of the truth shifted.

“Well, shit…” Ashley stared at the bar top, and fell silent. When she finally looked up at Shepard her voice was pleading. “Please at least tell me we are talking about Vakarian here?”

“Yeah, I am talking about Garrus. Who else could it be?” Shepard snapped, the high of voicing what she has been hiding for weeks was wearing off, replaced with frustration. 

“Ooof. Thank god for small mercies at least. I suddenly had horrific visions of Sparatus.” Ashley smiled weakly.

“Sparatus?! Are you kidding me right now Ash?!” Shepard spat out her drink.

“Well Shepard, at this point I would be willing to believe in unicorns. At least it’s Vakarian. I mean it’s still fucking weird but at least it’s Garrus, Garrus is okay, I respect him. You couldn’t pay me enough to go there, but I can see it, sort of, if I squint really hard” Ashley blinked in the after shock, wrinkling her nose.

“Trust me, I know. Well not the weird part, I mean that would be weird to think its weird…I didn’t exactly plan this.” Shepard sighed resigning to her own exasperation. 

“Wow Commander. That was poetry in motion. You really have it bad don’t you? Kaidan will be crushed” Ash giggled. 

“You’re cruel Williams, I didn’t even know that was a thing” Shepard sniped. 

“You know, all of this suddenly makes a lot of sense. I was forever wondering why you kept dragging Vakarian around with you. I mean why do you need two snipers on a team? Now I know, it was all in aid of keeping him close for eye candy” Ashley smirked. 

“I’ll be honest Williams, I expected a longer period of revulsion? You’re not exactly a fan of aliens least of all Turians?” Shepard probed, something wasn’t adding up. 

“As I said, you couldn’t pay me enough. But, really, if it makes you happy.” Ash shrugged “At the end of the day who actually cares that he is turian? Having spent time with Tali, Liara and Wrex, well it’s called growth. Besides I get it, the boy has personality, and his voice… well, even I will admit its damn sexy”. 

Shepard relaxed, she really did expect more reprimand, instead she seems to have found a willing ally. 

“So why exactly are you hiding Shepard? I get why you would run away from Kaidan, he is, erm, intense. But Vakarian? What has he done to put you in this mood?” Ashley finally regained enough sanity to order a drink. 

“Nothing, he’s done nothing.” Shepard sulked. 

“That being the problem then.” Ashley was clearly amused by this. “Have you, well have you spoken to him about this?”

“Hell no!” Shepard recoiled. “I can just about imagine that conversation ‘So Garrus, I know this is a slightly odd request but can we bang?’ and then I watch him run away as far as possible, join the quarians so I can never track him down.” 

Ashley burst out laughing. 

“I know he is a turian and all, but even he isn’t that dense. Have you at least dropped any hints? Or is that a stupid question? I’ve seen him saluting you and calling you ma’am. Though you maybe into that kind of thing, I’m not here to judge, at least not out loud anyway.” Ashley continued to giggle. 

“Laugh it up Williams. Seriously though, can you imagine me flirting?” Shepard pronounced that last word with utter derision. “I try to be demure and then suddenly everyone is looking at me, asking me if I need medical attention.”

“Well have you tried something like ‘Oh Vakarian, I love the way your fringe could possibly gouge out my eyes and leave me blind in one wild night of passion’? I’m sorry I couldn’t resist Shepard, please don’t shoot me!” Ashley pretended to cower behind a napkin. 

Shepard laughed, if you don’t laugh you cry. She didn’t relish the thought of the latter. 

“You know, you should probably give it a go. Hear me out, he is turian, if you are as bad as you claim, which I doubt, he probably wouldn’t even notice, he would probably just chalk it up to one of those weird Human things” Ashley stirred her drink thoughtfully. “Sadly my skills do not go as far as interpreting Turian behaviour, but he quite happily follows you around, and you probably don’t notice it, but I have a great vantage point from my desk, and he definitely watched you walk away. That must count for something?”

Shepard’s heart was hammering again. He watched her walk away? It could mean literally nothing but it could also speak volumes. 

“You really think this is a good idea?” Shepard asked cautiously. 

“Actually I think this is probably the worst idea since the time someone let you pilot the Mako. But I also think no one has fallen in love without being a little bit brave. It could be the greatest thing to ever happen, it could make you happy, and I am on board with that, God knows we need more love in this world. So I say go for it, I’m behind you on this one” Ashley smiled. “And if it all goes sideways, well there is always Saren to finish us all off, your suffering will be brief!” 

“Thanks Chief” Shepard laughed. 

“Any time Skipper, just don’t make kissing turians mandatory”


End file.
